This paper documents the experience of teaching environmental impact assessment (EIA) to undergraduate students at Escola Politécnica, an engineering school in Brazil, where EIA was first introduced as a graduate course in 1990, evolving to be taught as an undergraduate course. Learning...

Automobiles are a major source of CO₂ emissions. Because there is no immediate technological fix to reduce these emissions, the most promising current strategy is to promote less automobile use. In the United States, this is difficult because federal programs such as the interstate highway...

A notable aspect of sustainability is its holistic and cross-cutting nature—it cannot be achieved by any single rule, statute or agency. Instead, sustainability must be institutionalized across the legal system and government as a whole. In this paper, we propose and examine five mechanisms...

This paper explores the uninvestigated phenomenon of citizens' reasons for nonparticipation in EIA. By adopting a bottom-up approach, based on the assumption that citizens are rational actors who are able to provide reasons for their choice to participate or not to participate, it complements...

There have been a large number of attempts to develop a theory or theories of Environmental Impact Assessment in order to justify its use in environmental decision-making. A review of academic articles demonstrates that these theories are largely drawn from planning theories. Planning theories...

This article considers public decision involving conflicting values and interests by presenting a case (Portugal, 1990s) where the construction of a dam already under way following an Environmental Impact Assessment procedure (EIA) was abandoned in order to preserve prehistoric rock engravings....

Wind energy development is booming worldwide with Germany and the United States being forerunners in installed capacity. Based on a review of relevant laws and regulations, policy, siting, and permitting documents, academic literature, and expert interviews, the paper compares the permit and...

Modernization and construction of new transport infrastructure is a key element of economic and social development, on which depends the sustainability of economic growth in the regional and local scale. The development of transport infrastructure, however, has the negative effects. The...

To meet its objectives of expanding biofuel production, Brazil is confronted with the need to allocate new land areas for energy crops. This raises issues to be resolved concerning future exports to Europe. The European Directive 2009/28/CE of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy...

Offshore and coastal wind power is one of the fastest growing industries in many areas, especially those with shallow coastal regions due to the preferable generation conditions available in the regions. As with any expanding industry, there are concerns regarding the potential environmental...